The Upper Peninsulaof Michigan—also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. or Yoop—is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac. It is bounded primarily by Lake Superior to the north, separated from the Canadian province of Ontario at the east end by the St. Marys River, and flanked by Lake Huron and Lake Michigan along much of its south. Although the peninsula extends as a geographic feature into the state of Wisconsin, the state boundary follows the Montreal and Menominee rivers and a line connecting them.
Mackinac County is a county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,834. The county seat is St. Ignace. Formerly known as Michilimackinac County, in 1818 it was one of the first counties of the Michigan Territory, as it had long been a center of French and British colonial fur trading, a Catholic church and Protestant mission, and associated settlement.
Bessemer is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 1,805. It is the county seat of Gogebic County.
Moran Township is a civil township of Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,029 at the 2020 census.
The Soo Line Railroad is one of the primary United States railroad subsidiaries for the CPKC Railway, one of six U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (MStP&SSM), which was commonly known as the Soo Line after the phonetic spelling of Sault, it was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of that company with two other CPKC subsidiaries: The Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway, and the Wisconsin Central Railway. It is also the successor to other Class I railroads, including the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. On the other hand, a large amount of mileage was spun off in 1987 to Wisconsin Central Ltd., now part of the Canadian National Railway. The Soo Line Railroad and the Delaware and Hudson Railway, CPKC's other major subsidiary, presently do business as the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). Most equipment has been repainted into the CP scheme, but the U.S. Surface Transportation Board groups all of the company's U.S. subsidiaries under the Soo Line name for reporting purposes. The Minneapolis headquarters are in the Canadian Pacific Plaza building, having moved from the nearby Soo Line Building.
Brevort ( is an unincorporated community in Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The community is located along the northern shores of Lake Michigan along U.S. Route 2 within Moran Township. As an unincorporated community, Brevort has no legally defined boundaries or population statistics of its own.
Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan, is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popular tourist destination, it is home to several small- to medium-sized cities, extensive state and national forests, lakes and rivers, and a large portion of Great Lakes shoreline. The region has a significant seasonal population much like other regions that depend on tourism as their main industry. Northern Lower Michigan is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale, which are also located in "northern" Michigan. In the northernmost 21 counties in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the total population of the region is 506,658 people.
The Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad, is a Class III railroad U.S. railroad offering service from Marquette, Michigan, to nearby locations in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It began operations in 1896. The LS&I continues to operate as an independent railroad from its headquarters in Marquette.
Lake Duluth was a proglacial lake that formed in the Lake Superior drainage basin as the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated. The oldest existing shorelines were formed after retreat from the Greatlakean advance, sometime around 11,000 years B.P. Lake Duluth formed at the western end of the Lake Superior basin. Lake Duluth overflowed south through outlets in Minnesota and Wisconsin at an elevation of around 331 m above sea level.
Railroads have been vital in the history of the population and trade of rough and finished goods in the state of Michigan. While some coastal settlements had previously existed, the population, commercial, and industrial growth of the state further bloomed with the establishment of the railroad.
The Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad was a land grant railroad that was built and operated briefly (1881–1886) in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Incorporated in 1879, the 151.9-mile (244.5 km)-long railroad began operations in 1881. It was intended to help the economic development of a region of frontier timberland along the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Its successor line was the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway.
An ore dock is a large structure used for loading ore onto ships, which then carry the ore to steelworks or to transshipment points. Most known ore docks were constructed near iron mines on the upper Great Lakes and served the lower Great Lakes. Ore docks still in existence are typically about 60 feet (18 m) wide, 80 feet (24 m) high, and vary from 900 feet (270 m) to 2,400 feet (730 m) in length. They are commonly constructed from wood, steel, reinforced concrete, or combinations of these materials.
Epoufette is an unincorporated community in Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The community is located along the northern shores of Lake Michigan along U.S. Route 2 within Hendricks Township. As an unincorporated community, Epoufette has no legally defined boundaries or population statistics of its own.
Michigan consists of two peninsulas surrounded primarily by four of the Great Lakes and a variety of nearby islands. The Upper Peninsula is bounded on the southwest by Wisconsin, and the Lower Peninsula is bounded on the south by Indiana and Ohio. Both land masses are also separated from the Canadian province of Ontario by waterways of the Great Lakes, and from each other by the Straits of Mackinac. Because its land is largely surrounded by the Great Lakes, which flow into the Saint Lawrence River, Michigan is the only U.S. state whose streams and rivers are almost entirely within the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed.
The North Central State Trail is a 74.9 mile recreational rail trail serving a section of the northern quarter of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Following a route generally parallel to Interstate 75, the trail goes northward from the Crawford-Otsego County line south of the community of Waters to the top of the Lower Peninsula at Mackinaw City and connects to the North Western State Trail. It serves the communities of Gaylord, Vanderbilt, Indian River, and Cheboygan which connects to the North Eastern State Trail.
The Copper Range Railroad was a former U.S. Class I railroad that operated from 1899 to 1972 in the western Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan.
The Munising, Marquette and Southeastern Railway (MM&SE) was a short-line railroad that operated from 1911 until 1923 in the central Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. At its height, the railroad operated 140.4 miles (226.0 km) of track, which was used to help the timber operations then active in northern Michigan. It was controlled by Cleveland-Cliffs, an iron ore and timber extraction conglomerate, and its successor-in-interest is the Lake Superior and Ishpeming, a railroad that continues to operate as of 2024.
Chain Lake is a large pond or small lake in Mackinac County near St. Ignace in the U.S. state of Michigan at an elevation of 600 feet (180 m). The lake is served by Interstate 75, which provides a rest area and lake overlook for southbound drivers at mile 346. The lake is also served by the North Country Trail, running in concurrence with the St. Ignace-Trout Lake Trail. This trail uses the right-of-way abandoned by a spur line of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway, a logging-era railroad that helped remove most of the old-growth timber from around the lake. Second-growth woodland surrounding the small sheet of water is owned by the private sector and by Hiawatha National Forest.
Fred Dye Nature Sanctuary, commonly referred to as Fred Dye, is a 36-acre (15 ha) nature sanctuary located in Mackinac County, Michigan. It is maintained and preserved by the non-profit organization Michigan Nature Association. Originally created as the Purple Coneflower Plant Preserve in 1970, the site protects a disjunct tallgrass prairie in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. With the help of an anonymous donor, the site was enlarged and renamed in 2003 and dedicated in 2004.
The St. Ignace–Trout Lake Trail is a 26-mile (42 km) ORV, bicycle and hiking trail in Michigan that creates a non-highway right-of-way between the Straits of Mackinac and the interior of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The trail uses a section of the former roadbed of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway. Proceeding from south to north, the trail departs St. Ignace, at a point adjacent to the northern end of the Mackinac Bridge, and runs concurrently for the first five miles (8.0 km) of its route with the North Country Trail. The two trails then diverge and, continuing to follow the former railroad bed, the St. Ignace–Trout Lake Trail crosses Mackinac County from south to north and enters Chippewa County. At the trail's northern end, the unincorporated community of Trout Lake in Chippewa County, the trail's right-of-way resumes its active use as a railroad and the trail ends.
